Too many upsets in foreign policy

The partition or final occupation of Ukraine is in the hands of the Russians, and their Dictator Putin. It is easy to say that our president put too much faith in his Russian Reset in order to deal with China and other problems in rising Asia. Yet, he did so, and the world’s center of gravity is shifting from West to East, but there needs to be a balance in both that must be solved or played!

Brzezinski in his work, Strategic Vision, has provided a comparison of several alarming similarities between the Soviet Union in the years just prior to its fall, and the America of the early 21st century. "The Soviet Union, with an increasingly gridlocked governmental system incapable of enacting serious policy revisions, in effect bankrupted itself, committing an inordinate percentage of its GNP to a military rivalry with the U.S. and also to their own wasteful war in Afghanistan."

Technology and innovation were lost in the process, and their regime fell. The U.S. is committing the same blunders today with the two wars – Iraq and Afghanistan. Like the Russians, we are taking a beating on funding our nation’s future, its infrastructure, our people’s health and safety, and our military with only 2 percent to 3 percent GNP growth.

The truth is that the Russians are not that enamored with the U.S. They would like an alliance with Europe, without the United States, which they would seek to dominate with the scientific and technological skills of Germany being supplied to Russia. Putin also has fondness of the old Soviet Union, and the idea of a series of Slavic States with many of the old nations of the past in the loop. Ukraine, and the Georgia war, are examples of his quest to regain the glory of the Soviet Union.

Finally, he is seeking ties to China with some of those above nations in hand and others to come to join the Shanghai Convention – a form of NATO-like alliance against the West and the U.S. President Kennedy made initial mistakes with Khrushchev, and he caught up quick. The president needs now to listen to others besides his inner circle, and he needs to catch up long overdue on Russia.

In a quest to woo Russia, we have made some serious mistakes with our allies. I was at a meeting of the Foreign Policy Association (FPA), where the late President Lech Kaczynski criticized the Administration on not keeping its word on a long-awaited missile system for Eastern Europe, and, in particular, his Poland, and the Czech Republic! It might have been a coincidence, but many, including the president’s brother, say the crash in Russia was no accident. I share that belief!

My hope is for the Ukraine, and the hope that sanctions work; but let us not be naïve, the Ukraine must cleanse itself of oligarchs. The U.S. cannot be isolationist. The East is rising, and, yes, we need to contain China, and hope that change comes to Russia. We blew our chances with both long ago!